ASEAN Colleagues
Excellencies
Ladies and Gentlemen

It gives me real pleasure, on behalf of my ASEAN colleagues, to extend to Your Excellency and members of your delegation a very warm welcome to this inaugural session of the Post Ministerial Conferences 7+1 between ASEAN and China.

The elevation of the People's Republic of China as a full dialogue partner is another Important event in the history of ASEAN. On behalf of my ASEAN colleagues, allow me to again offer our sincere congratulations and warm welcome to you and the People's Republic of China on this special occasion. The PRC's elevation as a full dialogue partner is testimony to the importance that ASEAN attaches to its relations with the PRC, and comes as a natural progression from the earlier consultative partner relations, that we have had since 1992.

Since the inception of relations between ASEAN and the People Republic of China, our two sides have made significant progress in various areas of cooperation, namely political and security (through the ARF) and also in Science and Technology, Economic and Trade through the two existing committees, under the framework of our consultative relations. ASEAN and PRC cooperation, will certainty be deepened further now that the PRC has become a full dialogue partner. Officials of both sides shall now work together on the mechanisms to manage our dialogue process, both in the functional and political areas.

ASEAN and China are developing nations, located in the same part of the world. and this, therefore, requires us to cooperate to establish our principal goal of peace and stability in the region and development and growth of our economies. At the global level, both ASEAN and China firmly subscribe to the principles embodied in the UN Charter. Similarly, both ASEAN and the People's Republic of China have stood firm on the principle that differences in political, economic and social systems should not be a hindrance to strengthening friendly relations and cooperation.

Your Excellency,

It is ASEAN's sincere desire to continue to undertake and encourage even closer bonds of friendship between ASEAN and China. Undeniably there is much more to be achieved specifically in the fields of commerce, economic and technical cooperation. Our Economic continue to enjoy dynamic growth, particularly in the area of international trade. However trade pattern between ASEAN and the People's Republic of China has, up to now, focused on primary commodities and there is vast potential for growth in manufacturing and value added products. We have consistently believed that vast opportunities exist for expansion of our trade. In this respect, ASEAN hopes that China would further liberalise its import market to take in more value-added products from ASEAN which include manufactured and semi manufactured products particularly when the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) is fully implemented in 2003, ASEAN will become an open market for competitive goods including those frorn the People's Republic of China. ASEAN welcomes increased investment and trade with China.

The Constantly changing international political environment makes it necessary for us to promote constructive political and security cooperation to ensure that our peoples continue to enjoy a secure and stable environment in the Asia-Pacific area- ASEAN and China share a common aspiration to safeguard and promote peace and stability in our part of the world. However, China's declaration of 15th May 1996 on its baselines have raised some questions in ASEAN. We hope to receive some clarification from China on this declaration and what it means. We welcome China's commitment to resolve through peaceful means the issue of the South China Sea with member countries of ASEAN. Our discussions on a bilateral basis and on the basis of ASEAN-China dialogue need to be more focussed on this issue with the objective of working out an acceptable solution. ASEAN had since November 1971 declared southeast Asia as a zone of peace, freedom and neutrality. we would like to See China subscribing to ASEAN's initiative to turn Southeast Asia a nuclear weapon free zone as embodied in the Treaty on Southeast Asia Nuclear ,Weapon Free Zone signed by the ASEAN Heads of State/Government in December 1995. ASEAN sees this as an important and critical development in our effort to contribute to the final elimination of nuclear weapons.

Your Excellency,

Your presence here as a full dialogue partner of ASEAN presents us with an opportunity to exchange views on important matters in order to enhance relations between our two sides and further move forward together to promote our common interest and aspirations.

My colleagues and I are confident that our deliberations today would not only be fruitful but add new strength to ASEAN-China relations.

Thank you.